


i've been waiting for you to come / staring out at the setting sun

by phoenicopteridae



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Its like 1 am, everyone can ignore this, i dont normally make typos lol, i wrote it in two hours, if there are typos, its really bad, look away, no there arent, this is for a rewrite lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26317192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenicopteridae/pseuds/phoenicopteridae
Summary: this is for a hoo rewrite in which reyna lands on ogygia. she and calypso heal each other's hearts by finding the loopholes in each others' fates.
Kudos: 2





	i've been waiting for you to come / staring out at the setting sun

**Author's Note:**

> lol unless ur from hoo rewrite, feel free to ignore this, its just a really short n awful snip

On Ogygia, time was fluid.

Calypso had no idea how much time had passed in the mortal world since the hero Leo Valdez had crashed through the sky onto the soft, white shoreline. She had no idea how much time had passed since Percy Jackson or Odysseus had appeared in similar fashion. All she knew was that it had been too long, and she was still stuck on the godsforsaken island.

Although she was living alone in her little bubble, confined to her prison, Calypso still had a lot to do to busy herself with. Ogygia was a very large island, and there were always gardens to tend and rooms to clean, always some busy little task she could be doing instead of simply sitting there, even after centuries.

Never mind the fact that the island’s magic did all its chores itself.

Maybe she was lying to herself- just maybe. Maybe she didn’t really need to be doing all these daily duties, maybe she was busying herself with constant work to escape the inevitable that always came when one was alone with no conversational partner but theirself. The trick was just to not think too deeply into anything, to just let things follow their natural course and never question why or how anything happened. It wasn’t worth it to spiral down, further and further, when Calypso could just pretend she was happy and pretend everything was alright. Pretend she wanted nothing more than to live on her perfect little island.

When thoughts got too loud to really block out by herself, she’d walk down to the rocky coves near the caves and tunnels and let the loud crashing of the water against the jagged, beaten rocks and the smell of sea spray, the tangy taste of it on her lips, wash out her endless questions with an absolute truth. The ocean followed the same pattern every day, every week and month and year, and had done so since its birth. It never questioned its purpose, it only performed its tasks over and over in an infinite cycle.

And maybe Poseidon ruled over the infinite depths, but still he, the most temperamental of the primary triad of gods, could not control every inch of the expanses of water. Then, even then, even so, it continued on its path and never failed in its rhythm.

Sometimes Calypso wondered what it would be like to be so vast and so omnipotent, yet not present at all. Did the ocean ever stop and feel terribly lonely? Did it ever wonder why it had been trapped for so long?

Perhaps an infinite time had already passed in the outer world since Leo Valdez left with that infernal grin on his face and an impossible promise on his tongue. Perhaps he had died by the hand of one of the titans, or he and his prophetic friends had failed, and the world outside Ogygia had not been spared by grandmother Gaia's wrath. 

Either way, Calypso daily swallowed a bitter truth: nobody would ever come back for her. Oh, they all made their fickle promises, of which the River Styx was undoubtedly tired of, but one by one they forgot or failed. The truth was bitter, yes, but Calypso began to become familiar with it, and every day she let it sink in a little more.

"Thoughts are too loud today," she said to the lemon tree she was watering. It was a comforting habit, talking to herself and various inanimate objects made her feel like maybe she wasn't entirely alone. A while ago, when she had first been imprisoned, Calypso had seen these trees and thanked the gods for giving her at least some tree nymphs as companions, but no. By the island's magic, these trees grew entirely on their own. "I think I will go down to the rocks today. If I'm not wrong, there should be some tide pools today. Maybe I will find some new friends there."

The tree, of course, did not respond. Calypso had not expected it to. At this point, she no longer expected anyone to respond.

The landscapes of Ogygia were breathtaking, yes, but after seeing the same shoreline and the same towering dark rocks and the same gardens of splendor so many times, they began to lose the special quality that made something so wondrous. Even the most beautiful of scenery seemed to lose its flavor. It was probably because of the association to Ogygia, but Calypso wouldn’t know. She could hardly remember what the world had looked like before the gods had cast her down onto the island after the first war with the titans, and it would certainly be much more different now. If she was free, would the sunset look different?

She picked her way down the smoothened wet rocks and pools, home to dozens of tiny creatures hiding in crevices, the hem of her dress fluttering around her knees. The stones were slippery, so she took her time in padding down, the gentle spray of seawater spritzing her face.

 _Rise and fall and rise and fall and rise and fall_. Calypso watched the waves come in onto the rocky beach one after another, focusing only on the drifting foam that crested each little swell. They were mindlessly obedient, never stopping or tiring or complaining.

It reminded Calypso of Leo, then, and his unfailing ridiculous sense of humor. He hadn’t complained either, not really. Yes, he had made some slightly whiny remarks, but even though he had annoyed Calypso to no end, she knew he hadn’t really been complaining about work or effort. Suddenly and very keenly, she missed him. 

He had promised to come back, to set her free, but even as she had watched him float away, she had known her fate. She would never leave Ogygia. It had been her glorious prison for centuries, and it would be so for infinite centuries more.

A boom sounded from further down the beach, past where the solid rocks transitioned into soft, white sands. Calypso’s head snapped up, and she wiped away the salty dampness on her face, unsure of whether it was tears or ocean water or both. Another hero? So soon? Or had time just passed quickly after the departure of Leo Valdez?

With a soft sigh, she stood and began to walk down the beach to the disturbance, with every step accepting that she would always be a landmark, a checkpoint, a rest stop, and never a home.


End file.
